This recipe is super easy and fun to pull out for a party, gathering, or if you are needing a quality snack! The star of this dish is the beautifully roasted vine tomatoes. The prime of tomatoes are typically thought to be in the summer or in warm climates, but if you are craving this recipe out of season, you can substitute with a different variety of tomato you find in the winter or even another piece of produce like persimmons. I get so excited about this recipe because it hits all the right notes from savory, sweet, tangy, rich, crunchy, soft, and everything in between! From the notes of hot honey drizzle, peppery radish leaf pesto, creamy ricotta, crispy bacon, and fresh tomato, they all get soaked up by a piece of sourdough bread... what is not to love!
Ingredients -
Vine Tomatoes - I made three plates, using about 6 tomatoes
Ricotta - about 1 cup
Bacon - about 6 strips but you can make it more or less bacon forward
Lemons - 3 ea.
Sourdough - about 6 slices
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - as needed
Honey - about 1/2 a cup
Red Pepper Flakes - about 6 TBSP
Salt, Garlic Powder, and Pepper - as needed
For The Pesto -
Radish Leaves - the leaves from one bundle
(make sure you clean these super well)
Parsley - 1 bundle
Rosemary - about 3 TBSP
(Not a traditional herb for pesto but I love the piney and earthy twist it brings)
White Onion - 1 ea.
(I caramelized the onions before adding them to the food processor)
Garlic - 2 cloves
Parmesan - 1-2 ounces
Pistachios - 1-2 ounces
(Adds more crunch compared to a pine nut pesto)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - as needed to make the pesto a consistency you like
Method -
This will be slightly adjusted depending on what tomato you are using but I sliced mine into fourths. Layout all the slices onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and a little pepper. Roast in the oven for about 50 minutes at 375 degrees.
While the tomatoes are roasting, julienne cut and render the bacon, and set to the side to cool for a couple of minutes before combining into the ricotta cheese. Once the ricotta and bacon are combined, add in lemon zest and extra garlic powder.
Prep the hot honey by combining red pepper flakes into the honey, the more pepper flakes you add, the spicier the honey becomes.
You can also get the sourdough bread prepped by cutting it into the desired size you like, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and toast right before the tomatoes are done.
For the pesto, using either a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients. Taste test and adjust until the flavor is where you want it to be! The best part about cooking is you can customize what you're making and add your own twist to any recipe! You can also shortcut this by buying a premade pesto but if you have the time, I highly recommend making your own!
Once the tomatoes are finished roasting, layer and build your bruschetta bites however you'd like! Enjoy!
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